Will Mortgage Market Mess Crimp
Homeowner's Teardown Project?

By

Nancy Keates

Updated Aug. 21, 2007 11:59 p.m. ET

With our construction planned for next March, I am starting to worry about the current mortgage market mess and how it could affect our project. Already money is flying out of our checking account to pay the architect, designer and arborist -- and we don't even have a loan yet.

The impact of the subprime-mortgage crisis is now hitting people seeking jumbo loans (mortgages above conventional loan limits, currently $417,000) and construction loans. Interest rates have risen sharply in recent weeks because the turmoil has...